Valve for aerosol dispenser



w. R. oDoNNELI. 2,772,820

VALVE RoR AEROSOL DISPENSER Dec. 4, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 20,1953 l f l-f 57 W r I a 3/ JNVENTOR BY m Dec. 4, 1956 w; R. O'DONNELI. I2,772,820

VALVE FOR AEROSOL DISPENSER Filed Nov. 20, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Flqf 36K. INVENTOR. WM MM e 0 aon/M5L L VALVE FOR AEROSOL DISPENSER William R.ODonnell, Trumbull, Conn., assignor to Valve Corporation of America,Inc., Bridgeport, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut ApplicationNovember 20,1953, serial No. 393,420

s claims. (Cl. zzz-394) The present invention relates to dispensers andrelates more particularly to an improved valve construction to controlthe discharge of a solution from a container as a fine mist or aerosolspray. t

As is well known, various forms of aerosol spray dispensers have beenused including a container and a manually controlled valve for thedischarge of a spray of finely divided material. The character of thedischarge, controlled by the valve, diifers with different mixturesemployed, It is desirable therefore to provide a valve that will operateeifectively for various aerosol products which may include airborneinsecticides, deodorants, air sanitizers as well as for lacquers, waxes,paints, etc. which are discharged for deposit on a surface.

Valves of this type although in the nature of a precision instrument ofdiminutive proportions, must be made available at relatively low costand of simple construction capable of meeting the demands of high speedproduction including fabrication of the parts and assembly into anoperating unit. The finished valve unit must be positive and effectivein operation and conveniently controlled with a minimum of manualeffort.

An object of the present invention is to provide a valve of simpleconstruction for dispensing or dispersin spray from a liquid underpressure.

-Another object of the inventionis to provide a spray dispensing valvecapable of manufacture at relatively low cost and capable of convenientand effective manual operation. v

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be more clearlyunderstood byreference to the following description together with theaccompanying drawings in which: t

Vvalve in closed position;

Fig. 3 is a view taken on line III- -III in Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a viewsimilar to Fig. 2 but shows the valve parts in position for spraydischarge; andV Fig. 5 is an exploded View showing the individual valveparts. v

It'will be understood that the drawings showing the present dischargevalve have, for the sake of clearness, been made on an enlarged scale ascompared to the actual valve.` Valves of the type to which the presentinvention relates are relatively small but by reason of the novelcombination of the correlated elements the present Valves operate withaccuracy and reliability for the purpose intended.

One practical example of the present valve is indicated as a whole bythe reference character as applied to a container 11in Fig. 1. The valveproper or valve unit includes a sheet metal housing 12 comprising whatmay be termed an upper section 13 and a lower section 14. Upper sheetmetal nited States Patent '2,772,820 Patented Dec. 4, 1956 ICC section13 is cylindrical and the inner surface of the wall thereof is incontact with the edge 14 of a sealing disk 15 of a selected resilientmaterial which, as will be later described, serves to close a passagehaving the function of one element of a slide valve.

The disk 15 is held in a fixed position relative to housing 13 between:an inturned ange 16 at the upper end of lower section 14 which is incontact with one lsurface of disk 15 and in turn is engaged by ilange 17integral with upper section 13.`

The upper surface of disk 15 is engaged by an annular boss 18,substantially semi-circular in transverse crosssection, and formed fromthe sheet metal wall of housing 13. As will be evident the shaping orforming operation to produce the boss 18 may be so regulated as to causethe boss to compress the disk between the boss and ange 16 to a selecteddegree. The boss 18 being of sheet metal provides an annular channel 19to receive a resilient packing ring 21. One edge of the packing ring isrounded to conform to and contact with the inner surface of the channel19.' The other edge 20 of the ring 21 is at for intimate contact withthe under surface of a cover or cap 22. The valve proper is secured to awall of the cap 22 by a hollow annular bead 23 which is crimped toengage the outer surface of the cover wall and compress the packing ring21 into intimate contact with the channel 19 and the wall of the cap 22.As the packing is compressed to provide a seal the under surface ofcover 22 engages an annular rib 19 constituting a part of the wall ofsheet metal section 13. p Thus when bead 23 is formed from the sheet`metal wall of the housing it clamps the cover between the bead edge 23'and the rib 19 to secure the housing to the cover.

The housing therefore, including sections 13 and 14,

Vconstitutes a Vvalve casing held in fixed relation to cover 22 and inwhich a piston 24 is reciprocal endwise while in contact with thesurface of a center bore or aperture 30 in disk 15 and in combinationwith disk 15 constitutes what may be termed a slide valve as hereinafterdescribed.

The piston 24 is in the form of a drawn or swaged seamless tubularmember with a stop collar 25 and a stem or extension 26 axially disposedwith respect to a helical spring 27. One end of the'spring engages stopcollar 25` and the other end engages bottom wall 28 of housing section14. Said bottom wall being provided with an inlet passage or `aperture29. The lower section 14 of the valve housing may be cylindrical forinsertion into one end of a dip tube 31 of any suitable flexiblematerial as for example polyethylene or the like. t

A mixture to be dispensed under pressure passes through aperture 29 isnormally sealed against discharge by reason of the sealing relationbetween the piston 24 and disk 15. This sealingcontact between thepiston surface and the bore 30 is made more effective by reason of thetension of spring 27 which causes stop collar to force the material ofthe disk into contact with boss 18 whereby the resilient material of thedisk is distorted thereby increasing the degree of Contact between thedisk and the piston surface. Normally therefore under the action of thespring 27 the container is sealed against the escape of any materialeven though subjected to a substantial pressure.

The piston 24 being tubular provides a central passage or chamber 33which extends from an orifice 34, at one end of the piston, vto atransverse or lateral passage having an inlet orifice 35 in thecylindrical wall of the piston. The orifice 35 is so positioned .as tobe closed by surface of aperture 30 in disk 15 when flange 25 of piston24 is "maintained in contact with one side of disk 15 under theexpansive action of spring 27. Thus the valve is closed against thedischarge of pressurized mixture.

The upper end of piston 24 may lbe provided with a solid .body-rnemberof suitable material to serve as .finger piece 36 and havingpocket 37 to tightly t the upper end of piston 24. The fingerpiece orpress knob is formed `with an .internal :passage .3S which may 'have thesame diameter las fthe chamber of passage 33 gof :the piston and iniaxial alignment therewith and provides a-continuation of the Vchamber.33. This passage 38 .is Aclosed Vat .end39 and is' open .to theatmosphere by means of a ilateral passage 41 of reduced diameter:preferably of :019 `of an Yinch in diameter for vthe discharge offinely divided mia- `terial. The orifice of .passage 33 is disposed inconcave surface 42 formed in .the body member or finger piece to serveas a reflector for .the dispensed material.

As set :forth above .the spring 27 Iengages stop flange .25 and vholds:the piston 24 in its upper position with inlet .orifice 35 closed bythe Wall 'of the .aperture of 'disk 15. Thus the escape of materialunder `pressure is prevented. When the finger piece is moved inopposition to the laction of spring 27, to move .the piston 24, theorifice 35 is moved out of contact with the disk 15 to permit thepassage o-f pressurized material to expand and pass through theexpansion chamber composed of passages 33 'and 38 and be discharged fromorifice 41. Release of the finger piece results in a closure ofthe valvesince under the -action of the spring the piston is moved Ito returnorifice 35 to position intermediate opposite sides of disk 15.

Although it is important to provide a valve which is readily loperablefor opening and closing a discharge passage, itis equally importantto'mount the valveV in such manner that its connection to the containeravoids any leaks.

It is desirable with valves of the type employed for spray discharge tolocate the valve within the container to prevent damage during shipmentor general handling. As shown, and pointed out above the present valveis contained in a housing comprising ,two united sections V13 and 14mounted on `the under side of a cover or cap 22. Thus when the cover issecured to the rim of the container the major .portion of the valveproper is within the contamer.

With this arrangement it is necessary to effectively seal the valvehousing to the cover and the presentl invention as shown provides amultiple seal against leakage of the container during storage.

The disk 15 while serving in conjunction with piston 24 as a slide valvealso serves as a seal by contact, on its lower surface, with flange 16of section 14 of the valve housing. This seal is augmented by a secondseal effected through Contact between boss 18, formed from section 13ofthe valve housing, and -t'he upper surface of disk 15. A third seal isproduced by the packing ring or gasket 21 in contact with the undersurface of .the cover 22.

As will be evident, section 13 of the valve housing being of sheet metalmay be initially cyclindrical `and as it is shaped to form annular rib19', channel 19 seats on `the surface of disk 15 in effective sealingrelation by compressing the disk between the wall of channel 19 andflange 16 of the lower section 14. The formation ofthe annular bead 23may then be effected to compress the packing ring 21 into sealingrelation with the under surface of cover 22 and to draw annular rib 19into tight contact with the under surface of the cover 22 .therebyArigidly securing the valve housing in fixed alignment relative to thecap or cover 22. l

As above described the piston 24 is readily moved by finger piece 36 toopen and close the inlet orifice 35. The cylindrical aperture in theresilient disk 15 through which the cylindrical piston surface movesmaybe of a diameter slightly less than the outside diameter of thepistonv to effectively close the orifice 35 when covered by the wallofthe aperture, As stated hereinabove this intimate contact between thepiston surface and the aperture wall `is increased by the compressiveforce applied to opposite sides of the disk result-ing from the pressure.exerted by spring 27. Under the action of the spring the flange 25 isforced against the lower side of the resilient disk 1S. The boss 18 atthe opposite side of the disk contacts the surface thereof and resistsbodily movement of the disk.

Whereas inspray discharge valves `as heretofore constructed the manualactuation of the valve required an appreciable amount of effort lowingto the arrangement of the valve control elements, the present valve maybe actuated with a light vtouch of the 'finger on the finger piece. Thisis due to the present novel .arrangement of `the parts whereby the valvecontrol element is a single slide member, lfreely movable lto open andclose a discharge passage.

As stated hereinabove, discharge Valves employed for dispensing a fluidunder pressure are of relatively small size. In fact the housing 12 ofthe valve such as shown and described as one embodiment of the presentinvention has its `greatest diameter (section 13) of about .300 of aninch out-side diameter. The disk 15 which is incased in housing section13 has a thickness of .about .050 of an inch. The other parts vbeing inproportion will give an understanding as to the size of .the valve. Byreason of the ,present construction wherein the several parts are formedfrom sheet metal an economy of space is attained.

Furthermore it is important to provide an adequate eX- pansion chamber.By reason of the sheet metal fabricated parts a relatively large spaceis, in the present oase, available as van expansion chamber since theinterior of the tubular piston may beused. As will be evident whenconsidering the proportions of a valve of this type the ef fectiveutilization of vthe limited space available is important for successfuloperation.

Although a preferred embodiment of the invention is shown anddescribedherein it is to be understood that modifications may be madetherein without departing from .the spirit and scope of the invention asset forth in the .appended claims.

'What is claimed is:

1. A spray discharge valve for dispensing a fluid from a container,comprising a cover member for said container, said cover member havingan aperture, a sheet metal tubular valve housing disposed in saidaperture, one end of said housing .having the wall thereof crimped -toform annular surfaces for contact with opposite surfaces of said covermember to support said housing within said container, a disk of flexiblematerial positioned in said housing and having a central aperture, atubular member slidably fitting said disk aperture, said tubular memberbeing closed at one end to provide a chamber, an annular flange formedfrom the wall of said tubular member and disposed intermediate the endsof said tubular member, a tension member for normally holding saidflange in contact with one surface of .said disk, said tubu- .larkmember having a lateral passage in the wall thereof positioned to beclosed by the wall of said disk aperture when said annular flange is incontact with said disk, the other end of said housing having an aperturefor the passage of fluid to said chamber when said annular flange ismoved from contact with said disk, a packing ring surrounding theperimeter of the aperture in said cover, said crimped Wall of saidhousing retaining said packing ring in sealing relation to said coveraperture.

2,. A spray discharge valve for dispensing a fluid from a container,comprising a cover member for said contaner, said cover member having anaperture, a sheet metal tubular valve housing disposed in said aperture,one end of said housing having the wall thereof crimped to form annularsurfaces for contact with opposite surfaces of said cover member tosupport said housing withing said container, a disk of .flexiblematerial positioned in said housing and having a central aperture, atubular member slidably fitting said disk aperture, said tubular memberbeing closed at one end to provide a chamber, an .annular flangeintermediate the ends of said tubular memal* a ber, a tension member fornormally holding said flange vin contact with one surface of said disk,said tubular member having a lateral passage in the wall thereofpositioned to be closed by the Wall of said disk aperture when saidannular ange is in contact with said disk, the other end of said housinghaving an aperture for the passage of uid to said chamber when saidannular flange is moved from contact with said disk, a packing ringsurrounding the perimeter of the aperture in said cover, said crimpedwall of said housing retaining said packing ring in sealing relation tosaid cover aperture and with an annular surface of said Wall in contactwith a surface of said disk.

3. A spray discharge valve for dispensing liquid from a containercomprising a resilient sealing disk, said disk having a circularaperture, a sheet metal cylindrical tubular piston reciprocal axially incontact with the wall of said aperture, said tubular piston being closedat one end and providing an expansion chamber, an inlet orice in thewall of said piston, said piston having an annular ange formed from thewall thereof and adjacent to said inlet orifice, a tension member fornormally holding said flange in contact with one side of said disk toposition said inlet orifice in contact with the wall of said diskaperture, a cover member for said container, a sheet metal housingsection enclosing and supporting said disk within said container, anannular bead formed from the wall of said section for contact with oneside of said cover member and an annular rib formed from the wall ofsaid section for engaging the other side of said cover member to securesaid valve to said cover, and a packing ring surrounding said piston andheld in contact with a surface of said cover by said bead and rib.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,506,449 Greenwood May 2, 1950 2,565,954 Dey Aug. 28, 1951 2,667,991Boyer Feb. 2, 1954 2,670,106 Ayres Feb. 23, 1954

